Re: Where to begin with a HAM radio?
Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:51 pm
I have a small hand held ham radio, I keep it in my bug out bag. I’m not licensed to use it but it’s nice to have it in a pinch.
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Hard to learn how to really use it if you don't use it!Richbirdhunter wrote: Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:51 pm I have a small hand held ham radio, I keep it in my bug out bag. I’m not licensed to use it but it’s nice to have it in a pinch.
What frequencies do you have it programed to?Richbirdhunter wrote: Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:51 pm I have a small hand held ham radio, I keep it in my bug out bag. I’m not licensed to use it but it’s nice to have it in a pinch.
Ours will be mostly 40 and 20 meters, maybe 80 at night. 17, 15, 12, and 10 will be used if activity is heard.locke_n_load wrote: Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:11 pm2farnorth wrote: Sun Jun 17, 2018 10:53 amCongrats on getting the ticket. Check google amateur/ham radio clubs for your area. Here are a quick couple of clubs I could find in your general area. http://www.houstoncountytexasarc.org/ and http://setxac.com. Not all participate in Field day. Our club will be setting up in the pavilion at the park a Lake Bonham up here in north Texas.locke_n_load wrote: Sat Jun 16, 2018 12:12 pm Alright, got my callsign a while back: KG5ZOO.
Currently have a baofeng UV-5R with 771 antenna, and a TYT TH9800 quadband transceiver with a TRAM 1480 antenna in the attic. I like the crossband repeater function for emergencies - can use my handheld in my neighborhood and hit my base station which relays to a repeater too far out for the handheld itself.
Ham Field Day is next weekend - If I am not able to go to a location, how do you participate? I do not have SSB or CW btw, and I was told that was primarily the methods used for comms on ham day.
There is some 2 meter and 6 meter participation but mostly on SSB. If 10 meters is open there will be some activity there also. It has been opening sporadically for a couple of weeks. I believe your radio is limited to FM operations only but scan the 10 meter band and see if anything happens. There are a few 10 meter repeaters out there also.
Best bet is find a nearby club and get involved. Be sure to tell them you just got your ticket. Congrats again.
I have recently found out that field day is mostly 10m operation. My radio does output 10m FM, but I do not have a good antenna for that and I hear that the action is SSB or morse. I just particpated in a nearby club (TEAC) net, and they will be setting up about 5 miles from my house, which I hope I can get away to go check out, as 10m really sounds cool (the availability to have comms 100+ miles away, without repeaters, is amazing). Thank you for the information. Either way I will be scanning the 10m band.
Do any bands allow for DX (for me, over 100 miles) regardless of the solar cycle?2farnorth wrote: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:27 amOurs will be mostly 40 and 20 meters, maybe 80 at night. 17, 15, 12, and 10 will be used if activity is heard.locke_n_load wrote: Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:11 pm2farnorth wrote: Sun Jun 17, 2018 10:53 amCongrats on getting the ticket. Check google amateur/ham radio clubs for your area. Here are a quick couple of clubs I could find in your general area. http://www.houstoncountytexasarc.org/ and http://setxac.com. Not all participate in Field day. Our club will be setting up in the pavilion at the park a Lake Bonham up here in north Texas.locke_n_load wrote: Sat Jun 16, 2018 12:12 pm Alright, got my callsign a while back: KG5ZOO.
Currently have a baofeng UV-5R with 771 antenna, and a TYT TH9800 quadband transceiver with a TRAM 1480 antenna in the attic. I like the crossband repeater function for emergencies - can use my handheld in my neighborhood and hit my base station which relays to a repeater too far out for the handheld itself.
Ham Field Day is next weekend - If I am not able to go to a location, how do you participate? I do not have SSB or CW btw, and I was told that was primarily the methods used for comms on ham day.
There is some 2 meter and 6 meter participation but mostly on SSB. If 10 meters is open there will be some activity there also. It has been opening sporadically for a couple of weeks. I believe your radio is limited to FM operations only but scan the 10 meter band and see if anything happens. There are a few 10 meter repeaters out there also.
Best bet is find a nearby club and get involved. Be sure to tell them you just got your ticket. Congrats again.
I have recently found out that field day is mostly 10m operation. My radio does output 10m FM, but I do not have a good antenna for that and I hear that the action is SSB or morse. I just particpated in a nearby club (TEAC) net, and they will be setting up about 5 miles from my house, which I hope I can get away to go check out, as 10m really sounds cool (the availability to have comms 100+ miles away, without repeaters, is amazing). Thank you for the information. Either way I will be scanning the 10m band.
I had some 10 meter FM DX last week, so it can happen. I do like SSB better though. Have fun.
edit: to get out of the quote area
80, 40, and 15 have small sections allocated to Techs for morse code only. There is a move afoot to allow techs some voice privileges in some of these bands, but it's not there yet. 10 meters: 28.000 to 28.299 code, 28.300 to 28.500 phone (mostly ssb, have heard a couple FMs). Get yourself upgraded to General as soon as you can and that will open up a lot more. Of course you would need to get an HF rig and put up an antenna. I upgraded from Tech to Extra about a year ago and have had about 600 logged contacts while operating a couple hours a week. But I already had some equipment on hand.locke_n_load wrote: Tue Jun 19, 2018 9:55 pmDo any bands allow for DX (for me, over 100 miles) regardless of the solar cycle?2farnorth wrote: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:27 amOurs will be mostly 40 and 20 meters, maybe 80 at night. 17, 15, 12, and 10 will be used if activity is heard.locke_n_load wrote: Sun Jun 17, 2018 9:11 pm2farnorth wrote: Sun Jun 17, 2018 10:53 amCongrats on getting the ticket. Check google amateur/ham radio clubs for your area. Here are a quick couple of clubs I could find in your general area. http://www.houstoncountytexasarc.org/ and http://setxac.com. Not all participate in Field day. Our club will be setting up in the pavilion at the park a Lake Bonham up here in north Texas.locke_n_load wrote: Sat Jun 16, 2018 12:12 pm Alright, got my callsign a while back: KG5ZOO.
Currently have a baofeng UV-5R with 771 antenna, and a TYT TH9800 quadband transceiver with a TRAM 1480 antenna in the attic. I like the crossband repeater function for emergencies - can use my handheld in my neighborhood and hit my base station which relays to a repeater too far out for the handheld itself.
Ham Field Day is next weekend - If I am not able to go to a location, how do you participate? I do not have SSB or CW btw, and I was told that was primarily the methods used for comms on ham day.
There is some 2 meter and 6 meter participation but mostly on SSB. If 10 meters is open there will be some activity there also. It has been opening sporadically for a couple of weeks. I believe your radio is limited to FM operations only but scan the 10 meter band and see if anything happens. There are a few 10 meter repeaters out there also.
Best bet is find a nearby club and get involved. Be sure to tell them you just got your ticket. Congrats again.
I have recently found out that field day is mostly 10m operation. My radio does output 10m FM, but I do not have a good antenna for that and I hear that the action is SSB or morse. I just particpated in a nearby club (TEAC) net, and they will be setting up about 5 miles from my house, which I hope I can get away to go check out, as 10m really sounds cool (the availability to have comms 100+ miles away, without repeaters, is amazing). Thank you for the information. Either way I will be scanning the 10m band.
I had some 10 meter FM DX last week, so it can happen. I do like SSB better though. Have fun.
edit: to get out of the quote area
Well. it may be considered cheating (probably don't do it contesting), but Echolink uses VOIP voice over Internet Protocol (using a cell phone, tablet, laptop or any computer on the Internet) and connects with 2 meter 70cm repeaters worldwide.
Do any bands allow for DX (for me, over 100 miles) regardless of the solar cycle?
As a reference .. to old CB radio people who worked "skip" that old CB was 11 meters if I recall correctly2farnorth wrote: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:27 am
Ours will be mostly 40 and 20 meters, maybe 80 at night. 17, 15, 12, and 10 will be used if activity is heard.
I had some 10 meter FM DX last week, so it can happen. I do like SSB better though. Have fun.
And lets not forget AMSAT. A guy at our club built himself a nice rig to mount a couple HTs on with antennas he built. He was demonstrating for us and hitting South America on some Baofeng HTs.NotRPB wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:29 am some radios now have the tnc built right into the radio![]()
Well. it may be considered cheating (probably don't do it contesting), but Echolink uses VOIP voice over Internet Protocol (using a cell phone, tablet, laptop or any computer on the Internet) and connects with 2 meter 70cm repeaters worldwide.
Do any bands allow for DX (for me, over 100 miles) regardless of the solar cycle?
The other bands allowing DX via radio waves depend on propagation weather, sun, temperature inversions etc.
time of day affects it too.
Early morning I aim my TV antenna at San Antonio and Houston from Austin area, and I can tell by that whether I'll be hearing California or talking on the Brownwood Texas repeater on 2 meter via ducting... (which is rare because of hills in the way)As a reference .. to old CB radio people who worked "skip" that old CB was 11 meters if I recall correctly2farnorth wrote: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:27 am
Ours will be mostly 40 and 20 meters, maybe 80 at night. 17, 15, 12, and 10 will be used if activity is heard.
I had some 10 meter FM DX last week, so it can happen. I do like SSB better though. Have fun.
CB band is in the 11 meter area. 26-27 mhz, the ham part 10 meter starts at 28mhz up through most of 29 mhzFlightmare wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:44 amAnd lets not forget AMSAT. A guy at our club built himself a nice rig to mount a couple HTs on with antennas he built. He was demonstrating for us and hitting South America on some Baofeng HTs.NotRPB wrote: Thu Jun 21, 2018 10:29 am some radios now have the tnc built right into the radio![]()
Well. it may be considered cheating (probably don't do it contesting), but Echolink uses VOIP voice over Internet Protocol (using a cell phone, tablet, laptop or any computer on the Internet) and connects with 2 meter 70cm repeaters worldwide.
Do any bands allow for DX (for me, over 100 miles) regardless of the solar cycle?
The other bands allowing DX via radio waves depend on propagation weather, sun, temperature inversions etc.
time of day affects it too.
Early morning I aim my TV antenna at San Antonio and Houston from Austin area, and I can tell by that whether I'll be hearing California or talking on the Brownwood Texas repeater on 2 meter via ducting... (which is rare because of hills in the way)As a reference .. to old CB radio people who worked "skip" that old CB was 11 meters if I recall correctly2farnorth wrote: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:27 am
Ours will be mostly 40 and 20 meters, maybe 80 at night. 17, 15, 12, and 10 will be used if activity is heard.
I had some 10 meter FM DX last week, so it can happen. I do like SSB better though. Have fun.
This bill is aimed specifically at federally licensed operators. Striking out the current exemption the way I read it. Why? What has she got against us? Another democrat that wants to control every aspect of her subjects lives.Flightmare wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:42 am https://w5wx.net/2018/12/28/texas-legislature-sb43/
Couldn't find a better post to put this under. Looks like Senator Zaffirini has filed a bill that would change the "texting while driving" law to outlaw ham radio operation while the vehicle is in motion. This would definitely affect Skywarn storm spotters/chasers.
This bill is aimed specifically at federally licensed operators. Striking out the current exemption the way I read it. Why? What has she got against us? Another democrat that wants to control every aspect of her subjects lives.Flightmare wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:42 am https://w5wx.net/2018/12/28/texas-legislature-sb43/
Couldn't find a better post to put this under. Looks like Senator Zaffirini has filed a bill that would change the "texting while driving" law to outlaw ham radio operation while the vehicle is in motion. This would definitely affect Skywarn storm spotters/chasers.